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I have felt more mentally tired lately, less horrified by the possibility that I could fail this challenge. I have been trying to lightly touch those negative thoughts, then flit away, which is my best understanding of what people say you’re supposed to do when meditating. That advice has never helped me with meditation (it’s just not going to happen for me) but the flitting away is certainly helping with neg-head. Nevertheless, today I was low-energy, and, honestly, seriously bored with the story I started this morning. So I spent the rest of the day revising yesterday’s story and working on the site. I resisted finishing today’s shorty until very late. Then I stared—hard and for a long time—at my three paragraphs, added some lines here and there, re-ordered everything, and then… tripped over a complication that led to a satisfying finish. How the hell did I do that? I swear it seemed to come from all the staring.

Working Title: A Pretty Penny1st Sentence: They’d started with the penny thing early on, when they were still drunk on each other.Favorite Sentence: Where he ought to be now, bitching about how his freshmen had butchered Shakespeare particularly well, today, dispatching iambs with frightening efficiency, suffocating rhythm with their flood of um’s and uh’s and the ever popular like’s.Word Length: 759

Claire Guyton

can't thank the Maine Arts Commission enough for granting her their 2012 literary fellowship, which she used to launch Daily Shorty. Claire writes, edits, coaches other writers, and blogs in Lewiston, where she stays sane by working on her scraggly yard, running 5Ks as slowly as possible, perfecting cracker recipes, and playing badminton. She spends the remainder of her free time with her sweet husband and perfect cats. You can contact Claire at dailyshorty@gmail.com.